‘Very brazen and cowardly’ shooting kills teacher, wounds two others in North York

A 31-year-old teacher is dead and two others are seriously injured after one or more people opened fire outside a public housing building in North York just after midnight on Tuesday.

Abshir Hassan, 31, a supply teacher at Lawrence Heights Middle School, died at the scene, police said. The other two victims are a 22-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, who were reportedly dating.

Police are searching for multiple suspects in the shooting outside an apartment complex at 11 Flemington Road, near Lawrence Avenue West and Allen Road.

Police arrived at approximately 12:15 a.m. after calls to 9-1-1 from locals who heard multiple gunshots.

David Debelle, principal of Lawrence Heights Middle School where Mr. Hassan worked as a supply teacher as part of the school’s “Beyond 3:30 program,” collapsed in tears Tuesday afternoon while speaking to media outside the school

“[He] was beloved by the students. He always had time for them,” said Mr. Debelle, tearing up as he spoke. “He just gave himself.”

“I was so impressed with him and I just really wanted to see him realize his dream of becoming a teacher in the TDSB.”

Mr. Hassan attended the school as a student and grew up in the area.

Growing up in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood, which is a tough area, he appreciated the challenges many students experience, having lived through it himself,” said Mr. Debelle.

“This is a very brazen, cowardly act,” said Inspector Timothy Crone in a press conference. “It’s very disturbing.”

Police are searching for multiple suspects in connection with the shooting, and have said multiple shots were fired in “very close proximity” to the victims, all of whom were hit multiple times.

Much of Flemington Road was closed off Tuesday afternoon, with police cars and forensic vans taking up much of the narrow residential street in front of 11 Flemington Road and 51 Blossomfield Drive, two red-brick low-rise apartment complexes sandwiched between the Lawrence Square Shopping Centre and Yorkdale Mall.

Around the corner, bullet casings laid scattered in front of the entrance to the 11 Flemington apartment, with bullet holes visible in the apartment’s outer wall.

The 22-year old man in serious condition was a DJ who was well-liked in the building, a residents said. He was hoping to go to school for music and often stopped to chat with neighbours.

“He was like one of the best teachers I knew. He’s like a brother.” said a 16-year old girl who was a student in Mr. Hassan’s classes.

Lawrence Heights consists most of short-term public housing, and has some of the highest levels of crime in the City of Toronto. The city has plans to redevelop the area, mixing market-rent housing with new subsidized units.

One woman who lives here, a mother of four, said she hears gunshots regularly in the night.

“It’s just too much. We’re not in Afghanistan, we’re not in a battle zone. This need to stop,” she said.

“My four year old, every time she hears a firecracker or a gunshot, she thinks it’s the norm… Kids should not be growing up in this kind of environment.”

The Toronto police investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).